Racket frame



R. J. NASH RACKET FRAME July 7, 1936. I

Filed March 16, 1954 INVENTOR IPOBEET JED/1N Maw.

ATTORNEYS Patented July 7, 1936 UNITED STATES ATENT' OFFIQE RACKET FRAMEApplication March 16, 1934, Serial No. 715,887 In Great Britain April 5,1933 6 Claims.

My invention relates to rackets for lawn tennis and other games and tothe manufacture of such rackets and relates particularly to a wedgepiece, that is a piece which fits into the space between the inner edgeof the racket above the throat and the extensions of the racket framecurving inwardly and downwardly to the handle.

The wedge piece in racket frames has three intersecting cylindricalsurfaces, one on the top fitting the inner insertion which forms thelower rounded edge of the racket frame and two inwardly and downwardlycurved side edges which fit against the downward extensions of theframe. Where the wedge itself extends down into the handle, there arethus formed two thin feather edges at the upper sides of the wedge wherethe side curvatures intersect the curving top surface. When the wedgedoes not extend downwardly into the handle, it terminates in the featheredge formed by the intersection of the two side surfaces.

When the wedge piece is formed of a single piece of wood, it isimpossible to have the grain of the wood running lengthwise to the apexof each edge because these edges diverge in opposite directions whereasthe grain of the wood must run in but a single direction. Consequently,if the wedge were formed in its final shape before being placed in theracket frame, there would be edges having the grain running crosswiseand, therefore, very fragile and liable to be broken in forming or inhandling. It has, therefore, been customary not to form the top edgeuntil the wedge has been mounted and secured in place in the racket,whereupon the upper edge may be rounded and shaped and an insertionpiece hereafter mounted, if so desired.

This is, however, disadvantageous from many standpoints and particularlywhen the racket is to be formed as described in my copending Patent 10.1,982,447, in which laminated frame strips are bent and wrapped about aformer having elliptically curved sides and in which it is verydesirable to place and secure the insertion piece in position during thewrapping or bending of the frame and in which, therefore, it isnecessary that the wedge piece be of its final shape so that it may bealso incorporated into the racket without additional finishing.

An object of my present invention is, therefore, to provide a wedge fortennis rackets and similar rackets in which the grain of the woodextends toward each of the feather edges of the wedge and to avoid anyedges in which the grain of the wood runs transversely; to provide aracket frame in which is incorporated a wedge having the grain of thewood extending toward the feather edges; and to provide a method wherebyracket wedges having feather edges may be readily formed with the grainof the wood cX- tending toward said feather edges.

The various features of the invention are illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a plan View of a block of woodfrom which the wedge is to be cut and showing the arrangement of thepieces of which this block is made, so that the grain runs toward theedges to be formed; Fig. 2 is a similar view on a smaller scale of theblock of wood after the top surface has been cut into the block of wood;Fig. 3 is a l5 View similar to Fig. 2 showing the block after one of theside surfaces has been cut; Fig. 4 is a View showing the finished wedgeformed by the cutting of the third side, that is the side opposite thatcut in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a racket frame structure showing the manner inwhich the wedge is inc-orporated in the structure; Fig. 6 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 4 showing a manner in which two wedges may besimultaneously formed from a block indicated in broken lines; Fig. 7 isa view of a lower part of a finished frame in which a wedge extendsdownwardly to form the handle of the racket.

The invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, particularly in Fig.5, as applied to a frame structure formed of lamina, bent to the form ofa racket, the lamina being of a width equal to the thicknesses ofseveral finished rackets, for example, of a width sufficient to providetwelve rackets, so that it may be cut into a numher of racket frames. Itwill be understood, however, that the invention may be applied to theformation of racket frame of difierent thicknesses from that illustratedin the drawing.

In my present invention, a racket wedge is cut from a foundation blockor billet of Wood, which has been built up of a plurality of piecesor-parts, positioned so that the grain of the wood in those parts whichare to form the feather edges of the wedge points or extends toward theedge. The 5 pieces are thus arranged so that the tapering free corner inthe wedge is at the optimum angle to the grain. When a composite billethas thus been formed, cylindrical surfaces are cut at the top and twosides by means of a rotary cutter. These surfaces intersecting to formthe feathered edges and to give the resulting piece the desiredwedge-like shape. This wedge may then be formed into the racket frame,as described in my Patent No. 1,982,447.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, a billet or block I is formed ofa piece of wood l I having the grain running vertically and havinginserts I2 and I3 glued therein at the upper side edges and with thegrain of the wood in the parts l2 and I3 extending in an upward, outwardangle extending toward the edge to be formed at the respective side ofthe block. Thereafter, the upper face of the block is cut to thecurvature indicated at M in Fig. 2 by means of a rotary cutter operatingat a radius to give the desired curvature. One side is then similarlycut by a rotary cutter to give the curvature l5, as shown in Fig. 3.When the opposite side is cut to give the curvature l6, as shown in Fig.4, the wedge is completed. It will be apparent from the showing in Fig,4 that the insert pieces l2 and I3 have grain that extends upwardly andoutwardly in the same direction as the feather edges formed by thecurved sides [4, i5 and I6. At the same time, the curvature of the mainpart of the wedge extends vertically toward the handle of the racket. Itwill thus be apparent that the upper edge l4 may be formed to fit thecurvature of an insertion I 1 in the racket frame shown in Fig. 5 andthe side edges are curved to fit the intercurving parts l8 and 19 of theracket frame 29. Instead of cutting but one wedge at a time, two wedgesmay be cut, as indicated in Fig. 6 by providing a block indicated inoutline by the dotted lines twice or approximately twice the height orbreadth of that shown in Fig. l and in addition to having the inserts l2and i3 in the upper edges having additionally the inserts 2| and 22arranged in complementary fashion in the lower edge of the block so thattwo wedges 23 and 24 are formed by the intersection of the side edges ofthe wedge.

In the form of the invention shown in Fig. 7, the main part of the wedgeinstead of being in the form of the block is in the form of a handle 25,in the upper side edges of which are inserted or secured the pieces 25and 27 with the grain extending in outwardly flaring directions so thatwhen this part of the handle and wedge structure is cut by the rotarycutters the handle portion 25 extends downwardly, it being understoodthat the side cuts do not intersect in this case. However, this permitsthe upper feather edge portions to extend in the optimum grain of thewood while permitting the grain in the handle part to extendlongitudinally. It is particularly advantageous to have the side edgescurving in a curvature of a circle when the wedges are to be used in theformation of a racket according to the method of my Patent No.1,982,447, because in this method pressing rollers are to fit into thiscurvature. The curved edges may be cut by any suitable means, preferablya stationary cutter rotating at high speed past which the billet istraversed alongsuitable guides. It will be understood that when theracket structure shown in Fig. 5 has been completed, a number of racketsmay be formed therefrom by cutting this structure on parallel planes.

Having now described the invention, what I claim is:

1. A wooden wedge for tennis rackets having upper and side faces meetingin upper side feather edges and a bottom feather edge, and comprising amain piece extending from the top surface to said bottom feather edge,and side pieces one at each side and forming said side feather edges,the grain of said main piece extending downwardly towards said bottomfeather edge, the grain of said side pieces extending upwardly andoutwardly to their respective side feather edges.

2. A wooden wedge for racket frames having upper and side pieces meetingin feathered edges and comprising a main piece having its lower endforming said lowermost feather edge and having its sides terminatingshort of said side feather edges, and side pieces one at each sideextending from the respective sides of said main piece to form said sidefeather edges, and having their respective grains extending towardstheir respective feather edges.

3. The structure of claim 2 in which the side and top surfaces of saidwedge are of cylindric contour.

4. A racket frame having a loop member and extensions therefrom to forma handle and a wooden wedge insert, said wedge insert compris ing a mainpiece with its grain extending downwardly and terminating in a featheredge at the point where the extensions of said loop join to form ahandle, and having side pieces one at each side with the grain extendingsidewise into feather edges.

5. A wooden wedge for racket frames having an upper and side facesmeeting on side feather edges and comprising a main piece extendingdownwardly from the upper face and having the grain running toward itslower end, and side pieces, one at each side extending upwardly andoutwardly at an angle from its respective side of said main piece to itsrespective side feather edge and having the grain running upwardly andoutwardly towards its respective side feather edge, said side piecesterminating at and abutting the sides of said main piece and formingsmooth continuous and unbroken side faces from said feather edges andmerging with the side faces of said main piece.

6. A wooden wedge for tennis rackets having upper and side faces meetingin upper side feather edges and a bottom, and comprising a main pieceextending from the top surface to said bottom, and side pieces one ateach side and forming said side feather edges, the grain of said mainpiece extending downwardly towards said bottom, the grain of said sidepieces extending upwardly and outwardly to their respective side featheredges.

ROBERT JOHN NASH.

